Medicare fraud charge filed against former owner of York practice

The former owner of York Township-based Leader Heights Healthcare has been charged with running a Medicare program after his license to do so had been revoked.

The civil health care fraud lawsuit was filed against York resident Kurt Bauer, 61, by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

It says the practice formerly known as ChiroCare Center received approximately $3 million from Medicare between 2008 and 2013. That's a problem, because Bauer was excluded from Medicare after the Pennsylvania Department of State revoked his chiropractic license in 2008 "for an inappropriate relationship with a patient," the news release says, but he allegedly retained ownership of the practice until 2009 and continued to be involved in its management and administration "until he learned of the government’s investigation in 2013."

The release also says Bauer falsely informed Medicare that he had retired.

The lawsuit is based on the False Claims Act, under which "a person that causes the submission of false or fraudulent claims to the government is liable for three times the government’s damages, plus civil penalties for each false claim," the release says.